Urashiman

1 hour ago, arbit said:

That's how I started too, lighting a 1/100 Nu Gundam.

- Thin wires are very important or you wont be able to close the model. I use 0.25 and 0.30 magnet enamel wire. 

- I use pre-wired SMDs with soft thin wires (I change their resitsors depending on what I need). The hard brittle type wires need to be epoxied immediately or the LEDs break off.  And you want pre wired because soledring these little guys is tough.

- As for batteries, let me know what you use. I have never figured out a solution for a good internal power source that will fit in our little models, and power multiple leds with resistors.  The really thin car remote batteries run out very quickly.  

haha! nice, thanks for the advice.
I am good at soldering stuff. I am doing this since I am 8 years old, so no worries. My uncled worked in a chip factory for Siemens and teached me how to "bake" SMDs. Use low temperature solder, put the solder on the circuit board soldering points, align every SMD where it has to be and preheat your oven to 250°C. Bake for 2-3 minutes, and done. This only works if you are actually using a circuit board. Else you have to do manually with a soldering iron.

I have thin litz wire, insulated and bare wire in various sizes. PR41 batteries are really small. I am only going to power 3 SMD LEDs in the voltage range of 2.7-3.1V. One PR41 battery has 1.45V, so I would need two to have ~2.9V. PR41 batteries provide power in a range from 160mAh to 200mAh. 3SMD LEDs suck ~60mA (20mA each). Quick math - 160mAh/60mA = 2.6h. For switching it on and off from time to time this should do.

Looks great, good job!

But be careful, papercuts you know...

21 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Hate to break this to you, but I think you have the inlet ramp doors mounted backwards.  The thicker part should be inside toward the engine.   

Might not be too difficult to fix, depending on how well they were glued down, but fortunately the mounting points will stay hidden.

huh ... well ... urgh...

but no worries. I managed to fix it. Thanks for pointing that out. Hahahahaha!

21 hours ago, Bolt said:

Nice! Good job on the panels and paint!

11 hours ago, electric indigo said:

Very nice with the overall balanced weathering. For dealing with exaggerated panel lines: Leave off the wash or do a very light one.

thanks guys

@arbit look what you have done. You caused me to be inspired and work on my Gundam RX78-2 ver. One Year War 0079 and make something crazy like this:

I have to get smaller cells if I want to build all that stuff into the head. Probably R41 hearing aid batteries. Also the LEDs are too big and too bright. Ordered some SMD LEDs. Muhahaha!

xigfrid... This is pure awesomeness. The VF-9 looks really great! Congratulations!

Here - one completed VF-4 WAVE kit.

My initial thoughts on the kit were the quality issues:

- thick panel lines that could fit a zentradi finger

- inaccurate dimensions of the main body and wings

BUT! - most of the parts were fitting together really nice except for some edges. Especially the weapon housing on both engines. I fixed this easily by cutting away a pin on both sides.

In the end I am satisfied with the result.

@arbit Great work on that Millenium Falcom cockpit! AWESOME!

Yesterday I managed to finish my WAVE VF-4G Lightning III

Let the pictures speak for themselves.

The cool thing about this is that the Hasegawa Macross display stand works perfectly with the VF-4.

12 hours ago, arbit said:

Wow, you nailed the classic scheme. What were your ratios for the gray and orange?

(I really need someone to teach me how to improve my painting. I get a grainy finish, and my gloss is useless...)

Thanks! Well ... I didn't really measure the ratio. I just put colors together and do it drop by drop until I have the right tone.

I was using the following Revell colors:

SM 374 - Light Grey

SM 378 - Grey

Glossy 30 - Orange

Glossy 04 - White

Additionally I used the following Humbrol Enamel Color

Matt 42 - Violett

Finally finished my VF-11B from Macross Plus.

Sorry for the bad pictures. I really need to build a lightbox or something. The washing turned out a bit dirtier than I wanted it to be. I was also watching through Macross Plus to get the colors right, as the colors provided in the Hasegawa manual didn't seem right. Sadly, during build up the main body seams ripped open. It seems that due to sanding works they became a bit too thin...

Next Project:

My first Wave kit

So far everything fits nicely. No idea how to to the main engines exhaust yet. If I airbrush it before glueing it together I'll probably have some issues with color rubbing off during sanding. Maybe I have to tape everything first. I'll come up with something.

4 hours ago, newfych said:

Slowly, but steady..

Awesome work so far! Will if be transformable?

11 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

That Elint looks perfect. It really deserves a nice photo shoot.

Thanks - I'll think I'll build a small lightbox to take better pictures of it.

11 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

Did your VF-11B have the same problem with the decals that mine did? I posted pictures earlier in this thread. 

No, I got mine when it first came out. Also, I got the normal VF-11B without the super packs.
Just a small side note: Get the Jasmine Model Photo Etched parts. It is troublesome to get the small parts onto the pieces with my sausage fingers (my tweezers are MIA), but it looks really great!

4 minutes ago, arbit said:

Cool! But it deserves some better photos. Give us another look on white background.

I wish I could, I have no white background

Finished my VE-1 yesterday.

And starting my next project - Macross Plus VF-11B

18 minutes ago, Vifam7 said:

 

 

VF-11MAXL would be my choice.

That'll be cool too

12 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Gwyn tweeted this last June 29. Weapon Set for VF-4. And upcoming kit project. 

 

 

 

VA-3! GO GO GO!

...but a VF-171 would be nice too. They should scrap the VF-22, as Hasegawa has that covered. A VF-9 or VF-14 would be cooler instead

Quote

On 6/19/2018 at 2:12 AM, Return To Kit Form said:

WARNING: This post is likely to be offensive to fans of the kit. If you don't like independant opinions then don't bother reading.

I had a look over this kit and I have to say I am not impressed. Where are the fine details? The panel lines look like trenches and there are no rivets and panels. 

Then they have the gall to charge  5800 yen for it?  Highway robbery. 

Yes I am glad for steyrene VF-4 but I would rather Hasegawa had done. Big thumbs down do Wave's money grubbing and lazy engineering.

 

- Brett

Yeah ... I was a bit disappointed too, but at least I got an affordable VF-4 kit to line up with my other 1/72 macross kits. The resin VF-4s were always way too expensive, and there are bigger mistakes on the VF-4 structure on these. If Hasegawa would come up with a VF-4 I would be the first to buy it, but I'll have to stick with the Wave VF-4 for now

15 hours ago, Gabe Q said:

electric indigo, that's some nice work. It's a shame it will be hidden in battroid mode. Can't wait to see the finished product. 

Urashiman, that Elint is coming along nicely. Ten years is a long time but at least you're working on finishing it. I've noticed the same thing about mold degradation with my vf-1 kits. It's gonna get worse now that they're kit bashing the molds for the Gerwalk kits. 

sketchley, I'm glad you're ok. I was in Osaka this time last year. I'm also working on a VF-0 battroid except I'm on Urashiman's schedule with it. 

Hervé! Wow you are a model kit building god among men! That mustang looks amazing!

I'm currently working on a VF-11B and just finished up a Leo. I'm building it 'gear up' and it's taking some time.  

Yeah - it's a pitty with the VF-1 kits ... But hey - I got a bunch of other kits as well. When done with the VE-1, I'd probably build my VF-11 or try my first WAVE kit ... the VF-4

BTW: nice build, I like the washing. It looks really clean.

20 minutes ago, Hervé said:

Hello there,

Just completed:

1/48 P-51D Mustang (Meng kit with resin early tail and various goodies...

Nice Build!

On 19.6.2018 at 11:47 AM, Xigfrid said:

I don't really see any alternative for a working toys, at least with Shapeways materials none would work better, except HP plastic but the improvments doesn't worth the price Shapeways ask for it. Let me know what you are thinking of please.

Yeah on second thought you are right - FUD is way too brittle for that

This one is on my backlog for over 10 years now. I can't even remember when I bought it. Must have been 2004 - 2005 ish. Now I am finally building it. My first Hasegawa Valk with super packs.

The interesting thing: the kit quality is really good. I was building a VF-1A in Kakizaki colors some days ago and the parts had problems with fitting and gaps. It could be that the mold hasegawa uses slowly is degrading. This VE-1 is fitting together really good, but still it needs some sanding here and there as well as gap filling.

2 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

I am still amazed how much the printed prototype nose looks different compared to its 3D model once printed. 

 

Yeah, this is due to the orthographic view in sketchup and the perspective view in real life. Also keep in mind that 3D printing also has errors. It often isn't as acurate as though giving you printing errors of up to 1mm per 10cm, especially with the cheap materials. For prototyping the white and elastic stuff is okay, but if you want a final build, you should choose the more expensive materials.

Nevertheless, great work Xigfrid!

Awesome work Xigfrid! Congratulations!

10 hours ago, NZEOD said:

If you ever complete it for 1/72 scale I'd buy one for the Museum display

Maybe when the FF7 Remake gets released ...

1 hour ago, 007-vf1 said:

How about printing one on 1/144? Non transformable of course

Would it be possible from any of these 3D models?

yeah, but the details would be really bad...

On 15.5.2018 at 10:41 PM, edstuff said:

Finished my King Shark. I'm really happy with the results

Nice - reminds me of that Shark Attack Cartoon from the 80s/90s

1 hour ago, Xigfrid said:

@Urashiman I am glad to meet you because I have been using your paper model a lot for the panel lines. I have also tried to use your model (orthogonal projections) as reference because it was almost identical to the latest line art but it didn’t really took into consideration that the VF-9 is a very small plane so even if the true line art is very streamlined, I couldn’t use it to scale well with an Arcadia VF-1. 

And from there I had to trick the dimensions even further to obtain a good looking battroid 

you HD model looks really good! I am sure if you finish it and print it in FUD (High détail plastic) it will look incredible together with an Hasegawa VF-1, keep the hard work if you can afford it. 

Oh, nice to hear that people still use my stuff.

Yeah, the VF-9 is really small, even smaller than the VF-1. Doing it in 1/48 would be better, so the fine structures don't break so fast. Printing in the normal "Strong and flexible" might end up in fragile parts ...

You are talking about the Frosted Ultra Detail? I've used that once for a H0 (1:87) Tram I was printing. It is still up on shapeways I think. Actually I had the FUD in mind while designing the VF-9 High Detail model. I also had a High Detail VF-14 on my to do list, but there just isn't enough time. I probably have to take a sabbatical or something to catch up on all my crazy projects.